Naomi Osaka talks legacy: “I would hope ... that I’m someone who made it easier for the generation after"

Naomi Osaka hopes her place in tennis history expands beyond her on-court achievements.

The four-time Grand Slam singles champion is February's digital cover star in Hypebeast magazine, where she discusses her viral Australian Open outfit, how fashion has evolved in sports, her other off-court interests, and the changes she has seen in tennis since her career began.

But the article, aptly titled "Naomi Osaka Plays a Different Game," most notably sees Osaka openly discussing the game after her, too, and how she sees her legacy—something she started thinking about seriously after the 2023 birth of her daughter, Shai. While most players think about their career footprint through personal wins and losses, Osaka hopes to leave tennis a better place than she found it.

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“When I was young, success meant winning every match,” she says. “Now it’s just being healthy, being able to play matches, seeing my daughter smile.”⁠

"I would hope my legacy is that I’m someone who made it easier for the generation after," she adds. "And also someone that made it easy for the people that are different or unique.

"For me, with my background being Japanese and Haitian and American, I’ve just always been considered different. And growing up, playing with the Japanese flag, but not looking fully Japanese, it just made me aware of being a little different from everyone else. I was always kind of OK with it and I realized that for some people, it’s tough to accept that.

"I realized there are always a few black sheep in the bunch and just hope that they know that it’s cool to be different and unique. Those are things that make you, you and it’s something that should be embraced rather than something that should be shamed."

Despite already thinking about her post-playing future, Osaka says she still has several goals to accomplish in the present.

She hopes to win at least one more major before hanging up her racquets, and told the publication that it "suck[ed]" she got injured during this year's Australian Open, a tournament she has won twice.

"[T]hat would be a very big goal I’d love to set for myself, which I think is possible," she says, while not ruling out staying involved in the game in the future through a very specific set of parameters.

"I had a love-hate relationship with the sport just because I feel like I’ve been through so much in such a short amount of time," she adds. "I’m also very grateful for everything that the sport has provided me. If somehow I inspired someone that looked like me to play this sport, that’s one of the greatest things that could occur. And that would also make me want to continue doing things with the sport after my career finishes."